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GO-Biz Director Panorea Avdis Joins NextEV for Official Opening of North American Headquarters

October 17,
2016 2624 2624

GO-Biz Director Panorea Avdis Joins NextEV for Official Opening of North American Headquarters
Autonomous Vehicle Permit Issued and Road Testing Can Begin

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, NextEV celebrated the ribbon cutting and grand opening of its new headquarters, located in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The 85,000 square foot facility at 3200 North First Street in San Jose, California, will house approximately 400 employees and serve as the center of NextEV’s global software development and North American headquarters.

NextEV has been issued an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit by the California DMV. The NextEV team will begin testing on public roads under the Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program guidelines as it progresses on its path to bring autonomy to market. To date, 18 permits have been issued in the state of California.

In a statement during the Grand Opening celebration US CEO of NextEV, Padmasree Warrior, said: "I am extremely excited to announce the official opening of our U.S. headquarters. The new space will enable us to continue to build the team and bring in amazing talent to create a next-generation, autonomous electric vehicle that will change the entire experience of owning and operating a car. Our new autonomous vehicle permit will now allow us to gather more data to perfect our intelligent, electric vehicles for the road.”
“From day one, Silicon Valley has been integral to our strategy as a global start-up and I am energized by the culture we have built,” stated Chairman of NextEV, William Li. “NextEV’s global team is comprised of the best minds from the automotive, software and user experience domains. We are innovating and leveraging leading edge technologies to deliver world-class products to global consumers.”

NextEV will produce a zero-emission vehicle that will help achieve the recently released California Governor’s 2016 Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Action Plan. The plan is to deploy 1.5 million ZEVs by 2025 with the goal of reducing California’s petroleum use by up to 50% by 2030. This is aligned with a recent commitment by California and 12 other North American and European governments for all new cars to be zero-emission by 2050.

“The opening of NextEV’s North American headquarters is further proof that California is the epicenter of the automotive future,” said Panorea Avdis, Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). “GO-Biz worked closely with NextEV to help them expand in California and I look forward to their continued job growth as they contribute to our goal of putting 1.5 million zero emission vehicles on the road by 2025.”

Recently, NextEV received a $10 million tax credit through the California Competes Tax Credit program to create nearly 1,000 jobs and over $130M in economic investment to create and retain a large number of permanent, high-paying jobs and investment in California and provide further growth and expansion of California’s important zero-emission vehicle industry.

Senator, Bob Wieckowski, the chair of the Senate’s Environmental Quality Committee and member of the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee who represents the district where NextEV is located stated: “NextEV will continue the 10th Senate District leadership in California’s automobile renaissance. By adding nearly 1,000 new jobs over the next five years and building and designing innovative zero emission vehicles, it will enhance both our economy and our environment by securing our leadership in clean energy technologies.”

California State Assembly Member, Kansen Chu remarked: “I am very excited to welcome a leading all-electric vehicle company to join my district here in the heart of Silicon Valley, the center of innovation. While the state is constantly researching for cleaner energy solutions, we are happy to see the establishment of NextEV to take us a step further toward our goal.”

“Congratulations to NextEV on this new facility that will leverage the creativity and talent of Silicon Valley as they seek to revolutionize the future of driving,” said Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo. “Thank you for your significant investment in San Jose and we look forward to supporting your continued growth in the years to come.”

ABOUT NextEV

NextEV is much more than a car company. NextEV designs and develops smart, high-performance, electric vehicles with an aim to be the first “User Enterprise” in the world. Our mission is to provide an enjoyable lifestyle for our users. NextEV smart electric vehicles promise to re-define the entire user-experience – delivering enjoyment beyond expectations.

NextEV has already recruited hundreds of world-class R&D and design experts from around the world with significant technology and management background from leading automobile and high tech conglomerates. William Li is the Founder and Chairman of NextEV, and Founder of BITAUTO, China’s largest automotive Internet company. Dr. Martin Leach is the President of NextEV. Before joining NextEV, Dr. Leach was the CEO of Maserati; President of Ford Europe; and Corporate Vice President and Managing Director for Mazda. Padmasree Warrior is the CEO of NextEV U.S. and the Chief Development Officer of NextEV. Before joining NextEV, she was the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer for Cisco Systems.

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The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) was created by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to serve as California’s single point of contact for economic development and job creation efforts.